BlueWater Boats & Sportsfishing – April 01, 2018

Newslines

bluewatermag.com.au 19

The largest yellowfin tuna in the world are caught in the waters off Mexico, as reinforced

by this pending IGFA world record on 24kg tackle weighing 192.6kg, caught by Jorge Lazo

off Baja California Sur in early January.Photo: Jay Yadon, Outpost Charters, Loreto

In early January, when commercial fishermen from Loreto reported losing a
huge yellowfin tuna and seeing others crashing off Isla Santa Catalan, in the
south of Mexico’s Baja peninsula, it sparked an extraordinary fishing blitz for
American angler Robert Ross and his friends.
As a resident of nearby Playa San Cosme, Robert headed offshore and caught a 121kg
yellowfin single-handed. The following day he teamed up with his sons-in-law, Jorge
Lazo and Jay Yadon, owner of Outpost Charters in Loreto. Together with deckhand Tony
Winkler they set off on a three-day tuna-chasing marathon that resulted in six hook-ups
and four enormous yellowfin landed.
Using an Accurate reel loaded with 24kg line, the two largest were caught by Jorge on
stand-up tackle with a 45kg Hi-Seas fluorocarbon leader and a 6/0 hook. His biggest
weighed 192.6kg (424.6lb), topping the current IGFA 24kg line class world record of
175kg. Jorge’s second tuna weighed 144.7kg. Yadon landed a yellowfin of 96.4kg and
Ross another of 109.8kg.

Justin Rigby and his friends Daniel
Walton and Simon Turner were
competing in the Tuna Club of
Tasmania’s Australia Day tournament
off Eaglehawk Neck when they raised
a mako shark estimated around 60kg.
Simon presented it a bait on 8kg
tackle, but realised it was a much
larger fish soon after it was hooked!
Six hours later, after multiple jumps and
long runs that had Justin manoeuvring

World record yellowfin

Simon’s marathon mako

Makos have been plentiful off Tasmania during

summer, with some testing anglers to the limit.

Big Rig over 12km of ocean, Simon finally

landed his fish. Weighing a respectable

117.9kg, the mako is now a pending

state and club record, although the long

battle took them past the deadline for a

competition trophy.

Interestingly, a large proportion of the

makos have had other hooks and longline

snoods secured in the corner of their

mouths. One shark around 100kg had two

longline hooks in it and was completely

missing its dorsal fin – either an old injury

or possibly a birth defect.

Schools of small southern bluefin and

albacore tuna have also been thick all

along the east coast, along with the added

surprise of a few small yellowfin. With

the first Tassie swordfish of the season

already ticked off, the issue most anglers

are facing is which game species to target

next!

• Jonah Yick